The NCP had lost the Thane Lok Sabha seat to Sena's Prakash Paranjpe in 2004 by a margin of 22,000 votes. The bypoll has been necessitated due to Prakash Paranpe's demise.

The Shiv Sena has fielded the late MP's son, Anand Paranjape, against Mr Naik.

Mr Patil while speaking to mediapersons here today, also said that Thane police commissioner S Shivanandan had been transferred after getting the Election Commission's nod. He said over 200 more police officials in the state are due to be transferred as they have spent more than three years at one place.

To a question, Mr Patil said steps need to be taken to curb drunken driving which is one of the chief reasons for accidents.

He pointed out that 90,000 people die in accidents in India every year and that figure in Maharashtra is 10,000.